snake refusing food

[ophidian]

I've been feeding my 2 1/2 year old cornsnake 1 adult mouse weekly since I got her back in December. She has never refused a mouse before, but today when I went to feed her she paid no interest to the mouse and was very interested in trying to escape her feeding enclosure. The last time I fed her was 2 Sundays ago (nearing the 2 week point), so I'm a little late on her feeding which would lead me to think she'd be hungry. The mouse wasn't any bigger than the ones I normally feed her, so I'm not sure why she is refusing it. The only things that have been different is last time I fed her she shed the next day (I did not realize she was blue as she must have gone through the process while I was pet sitting and was in the final stage when I fed her), the temperature where I live has been getting cooler (was in the 90's and has been in the 70's the past 2 weeks), and I covered her enclosure with a towel last night because she was so active the cats were trying to play with her through the class and I wanted to give her privacy which I don't think would effect her eating, but who knows.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what could be wrong?

[dave partington]

Maybe (???) she turned out to be a he. It's happened before. This time of year it's not uncommon for males to go off their feed and be busy acting all agitated looking for some corny hookup action. Or maybe she's about to shed, some corns won't eat until after shedding.

[Nanci]

It's common to refuse to feed in and around the shed period.

Do you have heat for her? If her enclosure is 70, it is quite likely too cold for her to feel like feeding. She needs her own heat, set at 85F or so.

An adult cornsnake of average size should be eating one adult 20-25 gram mouse every 10-14 days.

[ophidian]

She is definately female as she laid a clutch of slugs mid June. She has a heating pad with a hide on half her tank which is always set between 82-85. My uncle who breeds suggested she may be getting ready to lay eggs again. Thanks for the advice!

[Nanci]

Can you palpate the eggs? That is a little bit soon. They generally second=clutch at about the time the first clutch would be hatching- almost to the day, so that would be about 60-80 days later. Well- maybe she is.

[ophidian]

I double checked and it was exactly 53 days ago she laid the eggs. I couldn't feel any eggs when I checked yesterday, but I couldn't feel them last time either.